Actor Kove a hit at Houston’s Comicpalozza

Martin Kove, who played dojo master John Kreese in the cinema classic “The Karate Kid,” appeared to the thunderous applause of fans of the movie series, as well as the Netflix follow-up, “Cobra Kai,” at Houston’s annual Comicpalooza.

Fans of the series, young and old, donned their gis and gathered loyally to hear the perspective of the actor of a now nearly four-decade-long continuity. Kove, who reprised his prior role, discussed a bit the origin of the character of Kreese, as told to him by the writer of the original trilogy, Robert Mark Kamen.

“Kreese had, in the Marines, a sensei,” recalled Kove. “And Kamen said that sensei was even worse than John Kreese. I couldn’t imagine that.”

Kove also expresses his deep appreciation for the writers working on his team, whom he credits for the success of his role in the “Karate Kid” franchise.

“We’re still saying ‘Wax on, wax off ’ today. And it’s all because Kamen took his personal experience of martial arts and brought it to something that was genuinely a one-page article about a bullying situation.”

He also gives his kudos to the writing team of the still ongoing “Cobra Kai,” who he says have gone out of their way to make the series appealing for both old and young viewers.

While the older viewers find themselves attracted to their old favorite series, younger audiences flock to the newer characters and their struggle, which then gives them a reason to watch the classics.

In the spirit of fleshing out his character, Kove said that while he was excited to act on this series again, he notes that he insisted to the production team that he wanted the character of John Kreese to have more texture and “vulnerability” with the new series. When just being himself, Kove has to take care not to fall into the persona of his character.

“I like playing soft moments. The emotional moments. There’s just a lot of venom in me that comes up when I have to do John Kreese. It’s inexplicable, and honestly, one has to be careful, because that character comes up in some of the oddest places.”

He then talked about his relationship with William Zabka, who played the main antagonist and pupil of Kreese in the original film, now the protagonist of “Cobra Kai.” Cove describes the character as the “son he’s never had.”

As for Ralph Macchio, who played the protagonist of the original trilogy, Kove says they weren’t able to work much together in the beginning because of a lack of scenes sharing the characters. However, without getting into spoilers, he also said that recently they’ve been able to work together much more often.

“I like playing soft moments. The emotional moments. There’s just a lot of venom in me that comes up when I have to do John Kreese.”

Martin Kove, who now plays the character in Netflix’s “Cobra Kai”